Low-carbon and high-efficiency is the main trend of future development of heat pump water heaters

Editor's note: The national energy-saving emission reduction call was put forward, air-source heat pump companies have responded, and played a role in energy-saving emission reduction. Water heater as a home essential product, its energy-saving "low-carbon" development trend is more and more obvious, review the course of development of water heaters, it is not difficult to find, "low-carbon" high efficiency will be the mainstream of the future development of water heaters.

Air source heat pump water heaters use renewable energy products. It uses the principle of air-conditioning heat pump, the use of compressor-driven refrigerant working inverse Carnot cycle, absorb heat from the outside air to produce high-quality hot water, to meet people's lives, production needs. At present, Midea has launched a series of hundreds of products in 19 major series for domestic, commercial and other market needs. It has more than 180 domestic technology patents on air energy water heaters.

As a new type of hot water device, the heat pump has technically unparalleled advantages of many traditional water heaters. Good safety, more energy saving, good environmental protection, economic savings, large water volume, wide application range, and lasting constant temperature. It is understood that a few days ago, air-powered water heaters were taking advantage of their "safety, energy-saving, and convenient" advantages and quickly occupied the market. In 2011, the domestic market for heat pump water heaters continued to grow at a high speed. The current monitoring of the mainstream of the industry more than 50 brands totaled nearly 2 billion yuan in the first half of the year, and the vast majority of brands increased by more than 30% year-on-year, even some brands have already To complete the annual tasks ahead of schedule, sales have exceeded last year, and market awareness has further increased.

Gas water heaters and electric water heaters that have led the market for nearly 20 years have been replaced by solar energy water heaters, air-energy water heaters and other emerging skills and environmental protection products under the promotion of “green energy, environmental protection and safety” social consumer demand upgrade. The solar water heaters that mainly attacked the 3rd and 4th markets also faced “growth ceilings” due to “low barriers to entry, intense competition, saturated market demand, and blocked access to the city”.

At present, the proportion of all kinds of commercial building sanitary hot water energy in domestic cities accounts for 10% to 40% of the total energy consumption of these buildings, and the energy consumption of hot water for urban civil buildings is approximately 20% to 30% of the total energy consumption of urban civil buildings. Energy conservation is the eternal theme of hot water technology development. With the acceleration of economic development and “urbanization”, the proportion of the energy consumption of sanitary hot water in building energy consumption is increasing, and the energy consumption of sanitary hot water is increasingly being taken seriously. The technology of electric water heaters and gas water heaters has become more and more perfect, but fundamentally it is only the “high-grade of the kettles,” and high energy consumption is a drawback that conventional hot water technology cannot overcome. Therefore, deepening the development of solar water heaters, heat pump water heaters is the inevitable direction of the development of water heaters.

Since heat pump water heaters have such a huge market and potential, there are two things that companies must pay attention to when they want to become bigger and stronger air source heat pump water heaters.

The first is to increase consumer acceptance. Heat pumps, as the fourth generation of water heaters, are emerging products. At present, the penetration rate of domestic heat pump market products is less than 5%, and end-market customers do not know much about heat pump technology. People know very little about air source heat pump. There is no clearer idea about the principle of air source heat pump and how it is energy-saving and environmentally friendly. Therefore, what methods are used to expand consumer awareness and improve end-users' knowledge and understanding of heat pump technology products have become a major challenge for heat pump technology development.

Second, personalization is the key to air source heat pump technology. At present, the technology of air source heat pump water heaters is still only controlled by a few manufacturers. In the face of a huge market, they often can only carry out extensive marketing methods, and due to the lack of professionalism of practitioners, it is difficult to explain to buyers. Do simple things in a simple way. At the same time, the current price of air source heat pumps is relatively expensive, and it is not yet particularly adapted to the needs of consumers. Only through continuous research and development, can low-cost marketing be achieved, so that air source water heaters can be thoroughly popularized.